Biographical Note:

Alumnus Merle T. Jenkins earned a BS in agronomy from Oregon
Agricultural College in 1916. During his student years, he was a military
cadet and member of the Osolito Club. Jenkins attended for three academic
years from the fall of 1913 until June 1916, when he graduated. He served
in the military during World War I and completed his MS and Ph.D. degrees
at Iowa State University. As an agronomist with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) , he was internationally recognized for his development
of hybrid corn. He assisted many countries with development of their own
hybrid corn programs.

Jenkins retired from the USDA in 1958 as Head of the Corn and Sorghum
Section in Beltsville, Maryland; and worked in his retirement for the
Farmers Forage Research Cooperative, a seed foundation associated with
Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, until 1974.

Merle Truman Jenkins was born in Brookings, South Dakota, in 1895 and
graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon. He died in
Medford, Oregon, in 1986.